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Regence Introduces Rewards to 'Activate' Members Toward Healthy Living

"Employers today want to support their employees' efforts to adopt healthier lifestyles," said Mohan Nair, executive vice president and chief marketing executive for Regence. "Regence Activate offers a solution by encouraging members to become active partners in their health care decisions and rewarding them directly for that behavior."

Now available for fully insured groups of two or more, Regence Activate members earn points for engaging in healthy behaviors. These points convert to Member Choice Funds, which can be used to pay deductibles or other covered out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Regence Activate members use myRegence.com to log activity, earn points, and manage their Member Choice Account. Each year, a member earns $200 of Member Choice Funds just for completing an online health assessment. Members can continue to earn an additional $400 each year by logging their activities at myRegence.com. Choosing from a list of 67 qualifying wellness activities, members can earn points for participating in programs for weight loss or for activities such as running, skiing, health club attendance, getting an annual flu shot, and attending a nutrition or healthy cooking class.

"Regence Activate offers a win-win for employers and their employees," said Nair. "Employees will reap the benefits of healthy living and managing their own health care, while Regence partners with their employer to incentivize the right behavior."

Having healthier employees translates into a healthier bottom line for employers. Regence's own employees, for example, have shown that embracing healthier lifestyles can lead to reduced health care costs. Regence's health care cost trends for their own employees have steadily decreased since 2002 due to incentive programs that have encouraged employees to lose weight, quit smoking, and engage in other healthy behaviors.

Self-managed plans are a completely new kind of coverage that promotes healthy living, fewer hassles, and more choice. The plans include at no additional cost a variety of programs to help members make the best use of those choices. These include:

    -- MyRegence.com -- claims, accumulators, information, tools, programs
    -- Health Coach
    -- 24/7 NurseLine
    -- Special Beginnings
    -- Regence Advantages program -- discounts on things such as hearing aids,
       fitness club membership, weight management program, contact lenses and
       LASIK

With self-managed plans, members don't need to check to see if their doctor is in or out of a network -- all are available in these plans. No primary care physician requirements and no referral requirements mean fewer hassles for members. For more information on Regence's self-managed plans and product features, go to http://www.selfmanagedplans.com.

About Regence

Regence is the largest health insurer in the Northwest / Intermountain Region, offering health, life and dental insurance. Regence serves three million members as Regence BlueShield ofIdaho, Regence BlueCross BlueShield ofOregon, Regence BlueShield (inWashington) and Regence BlueCross BlueShield ofUtah. Each health plan is a not-for-profit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Regence is committed to improving the health of our members and our communities, and to transforming our health care system. For more information, please visit regence.com.

SOURCE Regence